RingPlus, is a new Sprint MVNO that generated a lot of excitement last week when it launched a free ad-supported mobile plan.

The free plan includes 300 minutes and 50 texts per month. Additional minutes and texts are 2¢/each. Data is currently not available but Ring Plus says it will be soon for 2¢/MB. In return for free mobile service users hear advertisements during the time between when a call is placed and the called party or voice mail answers.

The free plan is described as a promotion with limited availability. A couple of days after launch it was suspended with a promise that it would reopen this week.

True to its word, RingPlus posted on Twitter and Facebook last night that it would be accepting new users starting Tuesday Sept. 3 at 8 AM PDT until an unspecified subscriber limit is reached. If you miss out on Tuesday, the sign up window will reopen again Friday Sept. 6 at 10 PM PDT.

The free plan is only available if you "Bring Your Own Sprint Phone" (BYOSP). RingPlus can activate any clean ESN Sprint or Sprint MVNO phone with the exception iPhones. During the plan's initial availability last week it was also possible to activate Boost and Virgin Mobile phones. However, Boost and Virgin Mobile phones are not allowed on other Sprint MVNOs so I wouldn't be surprised if they are blocked when activation reopens Tuesday.

When the free plan was available last week, the sign up procedure was to go to https://my.ringplus.net/device_validation_requests/new and enter your phone's ESN. If your device was eligible you could create an account and activate your phone immediately. To get the free plan choose "BYOSD" from the plan drop down. A valid email address and a credit or debit card number (for overages) is required. I'm not sure if the procedure will be the same this time. I recommend following @ringplusmobile on Twitter and liking the RingPlus Facebook page for updates.

Seems Ringplus doesn't allow to activate sprint blackberry on its network. I tried two blackberry, and got message from Ringplus ESN check page "Unfortunately, your device has active contract on another network or is not a valid Sprint device. If you're currently under contract with another company, simply ask them to release this device. Feel free to contact RingPlus Support for more help." Both blackberry has clean esn, and I can't find any information whether they will support blackberry in the future.

No Data, No MMS, No Voice Mail Notification, No Number Port and No ESN swapping, 2min charge on incoming call to Voice mail and another 1 minute charge on a hang up. These should be taken care of before adding more members and maybe tells me more about their true motives and it does not seem to be about fixing these issues and taking care of their initial new customers. Many still have not been able to fully activate the phone they brought over. These issues should have been fixed prior to the first release, let alone still festering while they trumpet a new wave.So Karl, what is up?

They can't give the service away before it is perfected? It's THEIR money for vmail, not yours. Their money for service, not yours. You do not have to buy data, but if you do and are not happy, they will give you your money back. But you insist on MORE of their money, NOW. Demand true motives before they can give more service away? You have to be kidding, right?If you are not satisfied with free, cancel it. Maybe you will feel better.PS: I am getting an audio record of vmail in my email.

So the second and third time around? They offered a complete service and they still have not come through on what they originally promised, don't offer a complete package and then not come through with it! If they had originally specified that the issues I raised were not going to be included then I would have no problem with that! Hard to get an e-mail alert when you have no data so you only get that when you can access your e-mail. I also plan on spending plenty of my MONEY using more than the what they are gifting me for listening to advertisements, 50 texts does not get you very far and with no data included I will be spending plenty of my MONEY with them Pal!

"Hey Karl, you gotta see this. Somebody on a phone blog is really upset about our free phone service. They are demanding you tell them what's up.""What do they want?""Free MMS. Different voicemail notifications. Number porting. ESN swapping (on line?). No-minute mail messages. Sprint has to turn on data immediately, just like we have been requesting for a week. They say we should to make these changes before giving away any more free service!""Wow; sounds like a socialist. Or maybe a Justice Dept lawyer.""Yes. Maybe they missed the Free part.""Well, they did not mention it. They say that all the "problems" should have been fixed before we gave away free service. They claim they now understand our "true motives" cause we have not fixed everything before wave2.""You mean, maybe they think we are trying to screw them? Steal their credit card numbers?""Maybe. This person signed up, and apparently thinks they are not getting their money's worth.""Well, maybe we should refund it. Go ahead and do it. (LOL x2)"Do you think that will satisfy this blogger?""Hmm. Maybe not. They could complain to the FTC, FCC and Justice. Demand an investigation, or start a Class-Action Lawsuit. "How dare they give away free phone service that is not perfect. Who do they think they are? Don't they know that is the Government's job? What are they really trying to do? Put Obama-phones out of business and save the rich taxpayers money?""Well, yes. They might do that. This person sounds like a Socialist to me, too. Maybe a union member at a wireless company. If you tell them we are trying to disrupt the wireless business and make a lot of money, that would really set them off. They probably skipped Econ in school because it was too hard. Business? Too evil. They probably took courses like women's studies, social studies, you know, Grievance 101-type courses. Think we have a pesky community organizer here?""You may be on to something. Maybe we should refund their money (LOL) and give them a consulting contract. They could help us understand what we have to do to keep the Gov, the Statists and the Collectivists off our backs before we launch Fremium services? I mean, God help us if the SEIU gets ahold of this!""Good idea, Karl. I'll reply to the blog post and ask them to contact us right away so that we can learn how to fix things properly before handing out any more free service. That should make them feel important (LOL).""OK, go ahead. I am a little disappointed, though. I really thought people would like free wireless, even if it was not perfect right away.""Yeah, I guess we have a lot to learn. Free Enterprise is just not what is used to be."

By the way, the issues I posted are all very basic cell phone company services, nothing that should not be expected or out of the ordinary. RP has also recognized all these issues and that they are working on them and should have them fixed "in a few days". Well, none of those have been fixed, yet they are now going to offer this service up again today knowing these issues are still festering for the first set of "members". You don't think they should at least fix some of the the problems even after the release of the service??? Sorry, but that does not instill much confidence in the way of ethical practices, at least IMO.

Amen, brother! They must be evil Capitalists, just trying to hurt the honest cellphone companies so they can take over. I just found some proof. When I try to sign up for free service (just for research purposes), I get a page that says "502 Bad Gateway!"

I was hoping to sign up for the free service today. Do you people really think I should wait until everything is fixed before I get the 300 minute, 50 sms service? Do you think this company is trying to screw us or do something evil? I mean, Google's slogan used to be "Do No Evil" and now look what they are doing.

Thanks. I just signed up for the free service on my previous platinumtel mirro (the free phone w/$50 service). Now I have free service on the free phone! This is just what I wanted. It works great! I programmed it manually with the unlock code they gave me after it activated.

Activated a Samsung M320 (a former PlatinumTel phone before they went GSM). Works fine for talk and text. Just no voicemail notifications so far. Still a great deal for an emergency or low usage phone with free service.

I was able to activate a Virgin Mobile 3G device, running Android 4.0.

I also received the "502 Bad Gateway" messages a few times. I refreshed the browser a few times and was able to successfully establish an account with a working Sprint number.

I was lucky enough to receive a phone number whose prefix and central office are in my city. Of course number availability is driven by zip code, in this case, my billing address zip code against Sprint's available blocks of numbers.

Thanks to Dennis the "heads-up" on this offer, and to Ring Plus for offering the promotion.

Now that my Ring Plus service is up and running, it's time to go back and read today's Investors Business Daily and review money making free-market, imperialistic and capitalist-pig ventures.

Free is definately free when you speak of RingPlus. What a mess they have made of this opening--and they continue to add customers!

Phone rings once and your charged 2 minutes, no voicemail, adds in foreign languages, top-up money suspiciously disappearing even when phone is off, TOS that has changed 10 times in a week, a forum they call discourse that answers chosen questions but few and far between. RP is a disaster waiting to happen...even the big guy admits they should have done a beta before they openened the doors to the public..and yet more openings on Thursday and who know how many more next week. RP can't fix what they have--Please before you consider "free" make sure you understand that with RP, free is not free. Your phone won't work, your minutes will be wrong, you will be overcharged and their service is less than desireable. In 2 weeks I've had minimum 50 telemarketing calls, another 20 from people I didn't know! Free is not free--Avoid this mess before it's too late! Free is NOT free!

I am completely satisfied with RingPlus. I use the phone every day and have not paid anything for calls or sms. I am saving the $9/month I was spending on Pageplus. My data service and billing work fine; the next best price for pay-go data costs 2.5x more. Pageplus pay-go data costs 50x more!I hope they don't change anything. Relax and enjoy your *Free* service.